Upgrading 2013-2015 Macbook Pro SSD to M.2 NVMe

[majonex]

I installed a Samsung 960 Evo on my brother's MBP 13 Late 2013 and I got it working. At the moment the only downside is the reboot issue. The machine is working very fast and the tape (plain electrical tape, at the moment) resolved a lot of issues.

I bought an original Sintech adapter from their website, but the reboot issue still persists. Any idea?
Thanks.

Tomorrow I'll try to put the same SSD in a client's MBA 2014 and see if it works.

I see several adapters on sintech site. I am using this one:
http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1139.html

But on the page there are several that do the same job. What do you guys mean "new version" ?

 

[monofase]

Update: MBA 201

[apologize for my poor english]

I tried different tape layers/thickness on my mba 2017, and all issues are resolved.
[doublepost=1514552302][/doublepost]

have you clear smc?

MBA 2014: works with kapton tape on the sintech adapter (i'll post pic of my taped SSD now) but after a deep sleep it reboots. Now I try to disable the option to shut off the drive in the energy saving settings pane.
MBP 2013: I will try another time with kapton tape.

Where do you put the tape layers? Under the adapter? I also read in this thread that some people have added some sort of foam UNDER the adapter. Which type of material is that?

Here are the pics of my SSD and KAPTON Tape I Used:


[doublepost=1514565414][/doublepost]

I see several adapters on sintech site. I am using this one:
http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1139.html

But on the page there are several that do the same job. What do you guys mean "new version" ?

This one is the new version, with black PCB. I have more than 30pcs of that:

http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1139.html

In the back of the PCB is written: M2 NGFF as 2013-207 macbook SSD.

 

[ironever]

Where do you put the tape layers? Under the adapter? I also read in this thread that some people have added some sort of foam UNDER the adapter. Which type of material is that?

Yes, I put tape layers under the adapter to fix the position and angle of the adapter, and I tried several different thickness of the tape layers before I resolved the sleep/reboot/panic issues.

I am also confused by the foam material, and I had tried to use a slim rubber as foam under the adapter, but the rubber didn't work. So I uses the tape layers as the foam now, and it works very well.

Some people use the kapton tapes like yours, and the kapton tape works well in their reports.

And I used a different type tape (iphone battery tape) because my kapton tape shipment were too slow. I were replacing my iphone battery in that time, so I used the iphone battery tape at hand.

I am using mba 2017 which seems little update from 2013/2014, but I am not sure if it is different from 2013/2014 macbook pro in respect to the PCIE/SSD.

 

[monofase]

Yes, I put tape layers under the adapter to fix the position and angle of the adapter, and I tried several different thickness of the tape layers before I resolved the sleep/reboot/panic issues.

I am also confused by the foam material, and I had tried to use a slim rubber as foam under the adapter, but the rubber didn't work. So I uses the tape layers as the foam now, and it works very well.

Some people use the kapton tapes like yours, and the kapton tape works well in their reports.

And I used a different type tape (iphone battery tape) because my kapton tape shipment were too slow. I were replacing my iphone battery in that time, so I used the iphone battery tape at hand.

I am using mba 2017 which seems little update from 2013/2014, but I am not sure if it is different from 2013/2014 macbook pro in respect to the PCIE/SSD.

Can you post a picture of the layers of tape? I read about "TESA" but as I know is just a brand of Tape, like 3M...
Seems like you wrapped up completely the SSD to the adapter, but without a picture I can't understand in which mode.

Does it work properly now?
[doublepost=1514570720][/doublepost]EDIT:
MBA 2014 with the "power off hard drive" setting disabled still crashes after deep sleep. How to resolve this? I read about a command but which one is the right?

 

[VEGASONE]

Can you post a picture of the layers of tape? I read about "TESA" but as I know is just a brand of Tape, like 3M...
Seems like you wrapped up completely the SSD to the adapter, but without a picture I can't understand in which mode.

Does it work properly now?
[doublepost=1514570720][/doublepost]EDIT:
MBA 2014 with the "power off hard drive" setting disabled still crashes after deep sleep. How to resolve this? I read about a command but which one is the right?

[doublepost=1514608417][/doublepost]Guessed really slow boot was related to some Bootcamp leftovers so did a clean install of High Sierra. Boots normally now.

 

[majonex]

Update: MBA 201


MBA 2014: works with kapton tape on the sintech adapter (i'll post pic of my taped SSD now) but after a deep sleep it reboots. Now I try to disable the option to shut off the drive in the energy saving settings pane.
MBP 2013: I will try another time with kapton tape.

Where do you put the tape layers? Under the adapter? I also read in this thread that some people have added some sort of foam UNDER the adapter. Which type of material is that?

Here are the pics of my SSD and KAPTON Tape I Used:
View attachment 744234 View attachment 744235 View attachment 744236

[doublepost=1514565414][/doublepost]

This one is the new version, with black PCB. I have more than 30pcs of that:

http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1139.html

In the back of the PCB is written: M2 NGFF as 2013-207 macbook SSD.

I am not sure if I have the latest adapter. It does not say "...2013-

Update: MBA 201


MBA 2014: works with kapton tape on the sintech adapter (i'll post pic of my taped SSD now) but after a deep sleep it reboots. Now I try to disable the option to shut off the drive in the energy saving settings pane.
MBP 2013: I will try another time with kapton tape.

Where do you put the tape layers? Under the adapter? I also read in this thread that some people have added some sort of foam UNDER the adapter. Which type of material is that?

Here are the pics of my SSD and KAPTON Tape I Used:
View attachment 744234 View attachment 744235 View attachment 744236

[doublepost=1514565414][/doublepost]

This one is the new version, with black PCB. I have more than 30pcs of that:

http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1139.html

In the back of the PCB is written: M2 NGFF as 2013-207 macbook SSD.

My adapter does not have the text "Macbook..." on the back but is larger than the one I saw a pic of here.

I tried different Capton taping but the sleep issue is never resolved. The only way I can get sleep stable is

Update: MBA 201


MBA 2014: works with kapton tape on the sintech adapter (i'll post pic of my taped SSD now) but after a deep sleep it reboots. Now I try to disable the option to shut off the drive in the energy saving settings pane.
MBP 2013: I will try another time with kapton tape.

Where do you put the tape layers? Under the adapter? I also read in this thread that some people have added some sort of foam UNDER the adapter. Which type of material is that?

Here are the pics of my SSD and KAPTON Tape I Used:
View attachment 744234 View attachment 744235 View attachment 744236

[doublepost=1514565414][/doublepost]

This one is the new version, with black PCB. I have more than 30pcs of that:

http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1139.html

In the back of the PCB is written: M2 NGFF as 2013-207 macbook SSD.

My adapter does not have any text on the back "Macbook....". I tried different Capton taping. Nothing seems to fix the sleep issue. The only solution I found was to disable hibernation and make /var/vm/sleepimage locked since it seems OS X 10.13 always creates that file even if hibernation is turned off. These posts:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/how-to-disable-os-x-from-creating-sleep-image.1685252/
https://computers.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-hibernate-a-mac--cms-23235

This article was helpful: http://bendeegan.com/2016/04/19/how-to-make-a-mac-hibernate-properly-and-consistently/
so I set this sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 25 standby 0 autopoweroff 0
Can anyone explain what drawbacks this is on a Macbooks battery life? At least disabling sleepimage should save a lot of writes (and wear) of your SSD. I have now tested many different M.2 drives. Mostly all work fine. It is the sleep issue that drives me nuts!

 

[monofase]

Hi majonex, I just found out that disabling the option "power off hard drives" actually works without issues. I left the MBA with the lid closed the whole night (with AC Adapter, but does also work on battery) and when I opened the lid the machine does not reboot.
So I can confirm, for the moment, that my sintech adapter (black PCB, not yours) works with the Samsung 960 Evo 500GB NVMe SSD. No idea about firmware version.

High Sierra OS was installed from a 2013 MBP (13") with some reboot issues. So I think is better cloning the drive with CCC instead of installing it clean.

 

[posh]

hi guys,
my experience:
macbook pro 13" early 2015
kingstone hyper 960gb
format apfs

with old version of adapter I was a lot of problems with cold boot/hybernate/suspend.

with new version of adapter, the bigger none problems for me.

so.... for now the difference of ssd apple is the battery life is loss and the cold boot is very slowly.

ciao

 

[monofase]

hi guys,
my experience:
macbook pro 13" early 2015
kingstone hyper 960gb
format apfs

with old version of adapter I was a lot of problems with cold boot/hybernate/suspend.

with new version of adapter, the bigger none problems for me.

so.... for now the difference of ssd apple is the battery life is loss and the cold boot is very slowly.

ciao

Which adapter are you using? Black or green PCB?

 

[posh]

Which adapter are you using? Black or green PCB?

hello
i use
http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1139.html
new version big pcb
green pcb
ciao

 

[diginside]

Sure :
As for Apple NVMe drives:

• Mac Pro late 2013 : works from 10.10.2 (PCIe 3.0 speed 4x lanes)
• MacBook Air 11" & 13" mid 2013 : works from 10.10.2 (PCIe 2.0 speed 2x lanes)
• MacBook Pro retina 13" late 2013 :works from 10.10.2 (PCIe 2.0 speed 4x lanes)
• MacBook Pro retina 15" late 2013 : works from 10.10.2 (PCIe 3.0 speed 4x lanes)
• MacBook Air 11" & 13" early 2014 :works from 10.10.2 (PCIe 2.0 speed 2x lanes)
• MacBook Pro retina 13" mid 2014 : works from 10.10.2 (PCIe 2.0 speed 4x lanes)
• MacBook Pro retina 15" mid 2014 : works from 10.10.2 (PCIe 3.0 speed 4x lanes)
• MacBook Air 11" & 13" early 2015 :works from 10.10.2 (PCIe 2.0 speed 4x lanes)
• MacBook Pro retina 13" early 2015 : works from 10.10.2 (PCIe 2.0 speed 4x lanes)
• MacBook Pro retina 15" mid 2015 : works from 10.10.3 (PCIe 3.0 speed 4x lanes)

As for non-Apple NVMe drives, (Samsung 960 evo/pro etc) :

• Mac Pro late 2013 : works from 10.13 (PCIe 3.0 speed 4x lanes)
• MacBook Air 11" & 13" mid 2013 : works from 10.13 (PCIe 2.0 speed 2x lanes)
• MacBook Pro retina 13" late 2013 :works from 10.13 (PCIe 2.0 speed 4x lanes)
• MacBook Pro retina 15" late 2013 : works from 10.13 (PCIe 3.0 speed 4x lanes)
• MacBook Air 11" & 13" early 2014 :works from 10.13 (PCIe 2.0 speed 2x lanes)
• MacBook Pro retina 13" mid 2014 : works from 10.13 (PCIe 2.0 speed 4x lanes)
• MacBook Pro retina 15" mid 2014 : works from 10.13 (PCIe 3.0 speed 4x lanes)
• MacBook Air 11" & 13" early 2015 :works from 10.13 (PCIe 2.0 speed 4x lanes)
• MacBook Pro retina 13" early 2015 : works from 10.13 (PCIe 2.0 speed 4x lanes)
• MacBook Pro retina 15" mid 2015 : works from 10.13 (PCIe 3.0 speed 4x lanes)

[EDIT] : corrected some speeds

PCIe 2.0 speed is around 350 MB/sec by lane so :

• with 2x lanes of PCIe 2.0 expect up to 700 MB/sec
• with 4x lanes 1400 MB/sec

PCIe 3.0 speed is around 750 MB/sec by lane so :

• with 4x lanes of PCIe 3.0 expect nearly 3000MB/sec

[doublepost=1505413624][/doublepost]
Have you follow the full installation of High Sierra on your internal SSD ? this is the only path to getting your BootRom upgraded at the time.
Which is your Bootrom version ? (I'm in the process of listing them all).

Also, you may put some kapton tape on the back of the Sintech adapter.
To me, it helps a lot... the pins of the adapter are otherwise close to touch the shield of the Apple connector, like here :

Hi,
I have been reading this thread for almost the whole day today with the hope I can find a solution to the problem I am experiencing, Samsung EVO 960 250GB SSD showing PCIe x2 (Link Width) instead of x4 in my mostly successful upgrade of Early 2015 13" MacBook Air. Apparently I found no one having the same problem. I know for fact that the Apple SSD I replaced had 4 lane storage interface. So it cannot be right this EVO 960 becomes 2 lane...

BTW I have the sintech adapter that most people on this thread use.

@gilles_polysoft, I appreciate all the helpful info you posted. But I seem to be an odd man with the low disk read/write speed. Any idea of what I did wrong or didn't do? I am still waiting for the Kapton tape for one.

I appreciate others' tip / suggestion as well. Happy New Year!

 

[monofase]

hello
i use
http://eshop.sintech.cn/ngff-m2-pcie-ssd-card-as-2013-2014-2015-macbook-ssd-p-1139.html
new version big pcb
green pcb
ciao

I bought exactly this one but they sent me the black version...
Thanks

Ciao!
[doublepost=1514720211][/doublepost]

Hi,
I have been reading this thread for almost the whole day today with the hope I can find a solution to the problem I am experiencing, Samsung EVO 960 250GB SSD showing PCIe x2 (Link Width) instead of x4 in my mostly successful upgrade of Early 2015 13" MacBook Air. Apparently I found no one having the same problem. I know for fact that the Apple SSD I replaced had 4 lane storage interface. So it cannot be right this EVO 960 becomes 2 lane... View attachment 744520 View attachment 744521

BTW I have the sintech adapter that most people on this thread use.

@gilles_polysoft, I appreciate all the helpful info you posted. But I seem to be an odd man with the low disk read/write speed. Any idea of what I did wrong or didn't do? I am still waiting for the Kapton tape for one.

I appreciate others' tip / suggestion as well. Happy New Year!

Hi, which adapter are you using? I'm using the sintech black (apparently I'm the only owner of these new adapters) and the same SSD as yours. In my Macbook Air 2014 I have much more better performances:
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=994415225e9cc2e9146545af6bdd2247&oe=5AFBD621

 

[posh]

I bought exactly this one but they sent me the black version...
Thanks

Ciao!
[doublepost=1514720211][/doublepost]

Hi, which adapter are you using? I'm using the sintech black (apparently I'm the only owner of these new adapters) and the same SSD as yours. In my Macbook Air 2014 I have much more better performances:
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=994415225e9cc2e9146545af6bdd2247&oe=5AFBD621

When you buy the adapter?
I bought on 11th november.
ciao

 

[monofase]

When you buy the adapter?
I bought on 11th november.
ciao

about mid december... I have 30 pieces!

 

[clemolin]

Hi,
I have been reading this thread for almost the whole day today with the hope I can find a solution to the problem I am experiencing, Samsung EVO 960 250GB SSD showing PCIe x2 (Link Width) instead of x4 in my mostly successful upgrade of Early 2015 13" MacBook Air. Apparently I found no one having the same problem. I know for fact that the Apple SSD I replaced had 4 lane storage interface. So it cannot be right this EVO 960 becomes 2 lane... View attachment 744520 View attachment 744521

BTW I have the sintech adapter that most people on this thread use.

@gilles_polysoft, I appreciate all the helpful info you posted. But I seem to be an odd man with the low disk read/write speed. Any idea of what I did wrong or didn't do? I am still waiting for the Kapton tape for one.

I appreciate others' tip / suggestion as well. Happy New Year!

Having the exact issue with my 600p and my 13" mid 2014 rMBP.
Adapter is the green bigger sintech one.

 

[Audit13]

@clemolin , @diginside , I have an early 2015 13" MBA with Intel 600p and large green Sintech. I also have link width of x2.

 

[monofase]

Hi all,
I just bought an used rMBP 13" from 2015 and put in always the same 960evo with High Sierra already installed.

As always the Mac works, but now I get the sleep issues, also by disabling the "power off hard drive" feature under energy saving.

The Mac is working fine, the only issue at the moment is this one (sleep)
I hope it can be fixed.
[doublepost=1514739772][/doublepost]Intel 600p does also have the sleep/reboot issue?
[doublepost=1514741930][/doublepost]

Successfully installed a Samsung 960 Evo with Sintech adapter in a MBP 13 2015 today.

First it did not recognize the SSD. The problem is, that the little feet’s of the adapter touch the metal shield housing of the MBPs SSD connector.

I then put 3 layers of “Tesa” over the “feets” of the adapter to isolate it.
After this, all went fine.

Speed is about 1300/1300.
Until now, no reboot, sleep, hibernate issues.
The 960 EVO was produced end of october 2017. I did not upgrade the firmware.

Martin

Hi Martin,
I have the same machine as yours and same SSD. Can you post a picture of your taping? What is 3 layers of TESA? is a special kind of tape? Here in Italy TESA is just a brand of tapes, but they sell a large variety of tapes.

 

[Audit13]

I have no sleep or reboot issues with an Intel 600p 256 gb in an early 2015 13" MBA. The only issue I have is battery drain while the MBA is in hibernation. After 8 hours in sleep mode, opening the MBA works but battery has been drained at about 3% per hour.

 

[monofase]

I have no sleep or reboot issues with an Intel 600p 256 gb in an early 2015 13" MBA. The only issue I have is battery drain while the MBA is in hibernation. After 8 hours in sleep mode, opening the MBA works but battery has been drained at about 3% per hour.

Are you using tape or special settings? The battery drain is not a big problem, but the sleep is...

 

[Audit13]

Are you using tape or special settings? The battery drain is not a big problem, but the sleep is...

I have the large, green Sintech adapter. I installed the drive and used it for a few hours to perform a fresh install of High Sierra and there were no reboots, no kernel panics, tried hibernation for about 30 minutes at a time and no problems without any special settings in macOS. I did not change any energy management settings during all my testing.

I shut down and added Kapton tape to the bottom and top of the Sintech just be be safe since adding tape should not make it worse. I then tried hibernation over night and the machine woke up and was exactly how it was when I put it into sleep mode.

 

[gymboy]

Hi guys!

I am interested in upgrading the storage on my Early 2015 MacBook Air (High Sierra) and have spent the last hour or so reading through this thread. The current SSD is 128gb which is too little for me and I am thinking of upgrading to 512gb.

Based on what I have read it seems that some of the NVMe drives are having some sleep/hibernate problems on the MacBook and that the only drive that seems to not have the problem is the:

- Samsung SM951?

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I am considering the following 3 choices of SSD to do the upgrade on in descending order of preference:

1. Samsung SM951 512gb
2. Samsung 960 EVO 500gb
3. WD Black NVMe 512gb

Which of the following would be actually the most recommended drive?

I am also located in the UK and was wondering if anyone in the UK has any alternative methods in obtaining the Sintech adapter within in the UK instead of directly from them in China, as I am just a little worried about shipping times etc.

Thanks guys and looking forward to your help!

 

[Hartpower]

Hi,
I have been reading this thread for almost the whole day today with the hope I can find a solution to the problem I am experiencing, Samsung EVO 960 250GB SSD showing PCIe x2 (Link Width) instead of x4 in my mostly successful upgrade of Early 2015 13" MacBook Air. Apparently I found no one having the same problem. I know for fact that the Apple SSD I replaced had 4 lane storage interface. So it cannot be right this EVO 960 becomes 2 lane... View attachment 744520 View attachment 744521

BTW I have the sintech adapter that most people on this thread use.

@gilles_polysoft, I appreciate all the helpful info you posted. But I seem to be an odd man with the low disk read/write speed. Any idea of what I did wrong or didn't do? I am still waiting for the Kapton tape for one.

I appreciate others' tip / suggestion as well. Happy New Year!

I hope this helps.

I have late 2013 macbook pro 13" and Samsung 960 Evo 500GB. I also got PCIe x2 at the first time I put my new SSD in. My disk speeds were about 800/800 just like the original ssd. Then I read from this forum that using kapton tape would solve many problems. So as soon as I got the tape, I taped the Sintech adapter (new version) carefully. After re-installation system report says PCIe x4. Speed is now almost 1400/1500. As someone here mentioned, the adapter pins will touch the slot metal cover and thats why taping is important. See attached photos. However, I still get kernel panics quite often. Maybe samsung EVO's are not the best choise for macs. If someone knows how to prevent kernel panics it would be very helpful.

 

[Audit13]

I went back to my early 13" MBA and re-taped my large, green Sintech adapter.

I am now able to see a link width of x4. The write speed on the Intel 600p did not improve but read speed went up to about 1200 mbps.

 

[monofase]

Hi all,
I just bought an used rMBP 13" from 2015 and put in always the same 960evo with High Sierra already installed.

As always the Mac works, but now I get the sleep issues, also by disabling the "power off hard drive" feature under energy saving.

Still having the sleep issue, MBP 13" Late 2015. I wasn't expecting it since I read here that generally The 2015 machines ware working without any issue.

 

[yjj_girlss]

Since I am doing some business with Macbook. I have used adapter N-941 that you guys called old version with samsung SSD to test all version macbook. Only 2013 has no reboot problem. 2014 can hear the boot sound but sometime appears the question mark. And 2015 becomes a dark screen with overwhelming probability when reboot. And it seems that the tape is not necessary on adapter N-941. Now I have ordered some large adapter that you guy called new version. When I get them I will report the result here.